Tag Archives: sentidos del gato

That spiky tongue has a purpose… full on spa treatment! Pic: Ev Carlin

It meows. It bites. It feeds us. Home to Jacobson’s organ and the spiky tongue. The cat’s mouth is a very busy part of our body. Let’s get to know it better shall we?

Less teeth, more bite: 30 is our lucky number (4 molars, 10 premolars, 4 canine and 12 incisors). I know that is way less teeth than you and our canine friends but what can I say? We have exactly what we need. Since we are strict carnivores, we don’t use them for chewing, they are perfectly developed to grind and chop.

Show me that clean smile! In the wild, felines take advantage of every part of their prey. As they eat it, its hairs or feathers act like a natural flossing system, cleaning between the teeth to prevent infections. The “domesticated” feline doesn’t share the struggle for food, having it served in a pretty plate twice a day, but that means that she needs to be taken for a proper cleaning at the vet at least once a year.

Not eating? Not good: We are masters of illusion. If something hurts we boldly carry on as if nothing’s happening, refusing to give in to the pain. All part of our defense mechanism. In the wild, the weakest cat gets left behind and nobody wants that.

Eventually if the pain turns into infection, our bodies will slowly show the changes. The mouth is no exception: if your cat refuses to eat, better take a look inside. An overlooked rotten or injured tooth will develop into an abscess infecting the mouth and going into the bloodstream. Cleaning teeth doesn’t sound so bad now right?

What about that weird tongue?By now you’ve probably figured out that nothing in your feline’s body is there just for style. That funny feeling tongue has a few cool purposes.

The spikes are keratin made barbs called papillae and they assist our teeth in the “ripping the prey” process as well as providing our very own spa treatment, painstakingly cleaning our bodies of every icky particle that may fall on it leaving only our precious scent. It’s a big part of our routine and we love it.

The look of our tongue can also raise an alarm that something is not right:
A swollen tongue may indicate an infection somewhere in the body.
The tongue can get irritated by cleaning detergents with toxic ingredients; cat sits on the floor, then gets into his cleaning routine bringing all that bad stuff all over the body. Make sure the detergent is ok to use around pets before you buy it.